Minutiae
by bsl
Summary: A collection of Tumblr prompted ficlets. @beeEssL.
1. Have you slept?

Fun prompts are fun. 

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It had been a long time, Yang was sure of that, but she had no idea how long until the cautious nudge to her shoulder broke her concentration like a bucket of ice water. Her head snapped up and the pencil fell from her hand, bouncing against the thick wood of the desk and rolling quickly towards the edge, trying to make its escape. It was caught by agile fingers and silently placed next to the sheets of paper piled haphazardly in front of her. "What are you doing?" A low voice rumbled next to her, still rough with sleep, and Yang turned her head to look up at the tired young woman beside her.

"Oh, I… Nothing." She stuttered. Yang never stuttered. A soft scowl was pointed in her direction and Yang knew that none of her bullshit would be tolerated. "I had a nightmare, something about wolves and bulls and birds. I got up and started writing a letter. I guess I got carried away." She looked ahead, peering through the gap in the curtains and frowning at the soft morning light starting to creep across the courtyard beyond.

"You're absurd." A hand started rubbing soft circles between her shoulderblades and lilac eyes drifted closed at the soothing motion and the prickling sensation that rippled across her skin. "Have you slept?"

"If I said yes, would you believe me?" Yang smirked up at Blake, the soft dark circles under her eyes causing a dark eyebrow to quirk and a velvet ear to twitch.

"Not a chance. Come on." Blake pulled on her hands and Yang stood from the hard, wooden seat. She walked backwards and tugged the blonde with her, gracefully easing herself back into her bunk and bringing Yang with her. She settled in beside the faunus and Blake wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her close against her chest and tucking her face into her shoulder. Before long, she felt the edges of her senses begin to blur, and she dropped into a soft and comfortable sleep.


	2. Oh my God

No bees in here, but Weiss has something to say.

* * *

Blake is gone. She's gone and all that Weiss can do is go on and on saying nasty, vile things about the faunus. Like you don't know that the White Fang are a bunch of jerks, and that they intimidate and threaten people until they get what they want. It's common knowledge that they're an awful organisation. But you know Blake, and Blake is most certainly not awful.

"I don't see why we have to find her, she obviously feels guilty about something and I for one don't think that searching for a member of the White Fang is a productive use of our-"

"Shut up!" You finally snap, turning to face Weiss. Your semblance sparks around you, your skin burning as hot as your temper and the bile in the back of your throat. Her skin turns a shade paler and she swallows as her ice-blue eyes widen to take you in. Your rage has never been aimed at her before, and it knocks the confidence right out of her for a moment. "Blake said she isn't with the White Fang any more, and we need to find her."

Weiss steadies herself and folds her arms across her chest. "Why? She's still a faunus, and they are all deviants, criminals, and murderers."

"She's my partner, and she's scared!" You clench your fists at your sides and will your arms to stay there despite the itch in your muscles that begs you to lash out and silence the icy bitch. "And it's no wonder with people like you spewing such garbage."

You shake your head and take a deep breath, centering yourself and letting the fury seep away, out of your flesh and into the air. You can't hit her, she's your teammate and your friend, but the malice in her voice is forming a ball of pain in your skull. You feel your skin cool, and the sparks settle to a simmer below the surface. "I don't care what you think, Weiss. I need to make sure she's safe, I need to protect her, I need her to know that people care about her and that she doesn't have to be afraid of being herself." Weiss looks at you, her eyes losing their defiance and instead staring into you with a look you can't place. "She needs to know she's…" Your sentence trails off and instead of muttering the words you wish you could, you turn around sharply and walk away with complete ambivalence as to whether she follows you or not.

"Oh my God." She balks from behind you, her voice high-pitched and echoing sharply around the empty street. "You're in love with her."

You stop dead in your tracks and you can feel the colour instantly drain from your face. A sick, heavy feeling makes itself known in the pit of your stomach and threatens to rocket everything you've ever eaten onto the sidewalk.

"You can't tell anyone." The words fall from your mouth instead, and you can hear the sharp click of her heels as she walks up to face you. She reluctantly pats you on the shoulder and gives you a genuine and sympathetic glance.

"Let's go find Blake."

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Prompts on tumblr BeeEssL are always appreciated.


	3. I think you're beautiful

Street harassment is gross.

* * *

"Hey sexy! Let's see you shake those maracas!" The slurred words pouring from the mouth of a lanky teenage boy, maybe only a year or two younger than them. His body was all limbs and sharp corners, his hair greasy and slicked back. His gait was clumsy and uneven, enough of a sign that he'd been drinking without the liquor bottle in his hand. He teetered towards Yang with _that_ look in his eye, and she sighed, her face stony and irritated. He reached for her breasts and she swatted his sweaty palms away with no effort. "Hands off the merchandise, dude." She grumbled, and didn't hesitate as she stepped around him with a placid fluidity. She continued to march down the sidewalk with Blake following closely behind her.

"Aww come on! Tits like that are just _made_ to be shared." He walked alongside her, trying to snag her attention. "You're hot as hell, babe." His tone caused something inside Blake to snap. A pale hand snatched at the boy's forearm as he tried to make another grab for Yang.

"She said no." Blake enunciated her words, stopping dead. She squeezed the bones in his wrist, forcing a yelp out of his lips. "What about _hands off_ don't you understand?"

"Blake!" The force behind the words made her ease her grip and turn to face Yang, the blonde's face wearing a mask of defeat. She wasn't angry, in fact she just looked tired. "Let it go, please." Blake nodded at her before she snapped her head back to the boy. She glowered at him and squeezed his wrist in a vice-like grip for a moment before letting go completely. She started to walk away and the boy seethed, staring at her back.

"Fucking bitch." He spat. Blake spun on her toes and punched him hard in the cheekbone, the blow knocking his body off-balance. He stumbled before hitting the ground with a hard thump. Yang gripped Blake's arm above the elbow and pulled her away, marching them both down the street with her hand wrapped tight around her partner's bicep.

"You didn't need to hit him." Yang sighed. She loosened her grip with every step, eventually letting her fingertips flutter down Blake's arm until her hand swung at her side.

"Did you hear what he was saying to you? I'm surprised you didn't hit him." Blake replied, linking her pinky around Yang's and giving a sweet tug.

"People say junk like that all the time, they always call me hot, or sexy, and it's always about my boobs." She rolled her eyes and looked down at her chest. "You get used to it, I guess."

"You shouldn't have to get used to that, you know." They'd stopped walking and Blake raised her free hand to tilt Yang's chin towards her. "It's despicable, the way he treated you."

"I know, but I can't punch every guy who tries to grope me." Yang's shoulders shrugged lazily. She didn't have the energy to talk about it, never mind deal with it. "I'm just sick of people thinking I'm just _hot_. I've never been anything other than hot."

Blake looked into sad lilac irises and pressed her forehead against Yang's. Her hand slid from Yang's chin to the back of her neck, fingers burying themselves in thick golden curls. "I think you're beautiful." She whispered, before pressing a soft kiss against Yang's pouted lips. "Inside and out." She kissed her again and dropped Yang's pinky to lace all their fingers together. Yang's lips split into a smile. "You could never be _just_ anything."


	4. This isn't for me

Prompt: "This isn't for me."

This was hard work! But it's to make up for the last chapter. Also, all posts from me are going to slow right down because I should be going back to work on Monday following my knee deciding to dislocate, so I'll have a lot less free time.

* * *

Sweat glazed their skin with an incandescent glow, harsh breaths collided between lips that bloomed like rosebuds and clouded their vision with heat. Calloused palms danced and skittered along willowy limbs that blazed and trembled beneath them. Blake's spine crackled like fire as she bowed under the pressure and her hips hopelessly thrust towards the heavens. Her hands grasped at taught biceps; fingertips pinched at flesh and steel, nails threatened to sink into the surface in a scrambled attempt for an anchor. She twisted like a serpent and heaved a shoulder upwards for a moment before it was pushed back down by her blazing dragon with the force of a freight train. The breath was forced from her lungs with a melodic groan in accompaniment. "Yang," she wrangled air back into her body with drawn out huffs, "Yang, please."

"Not until you say it." Yang purred into her ear, and Blake could hear the antagonising phrase swill around the blonde's mouth. A louder groan reverberated hauntingly around the room and tapered ears ironed themselves to ebony hair. She clenched her scorched abdomen and rocked her pelvis into the blonde with a gale force, but it barely rattled the sturdy foundations. She quirked her lips into a predatory snarl, whispers smouldering under her breath. "I can't hear you, kitten. Louder."

"I'm a pussy!" The words rushed up her throat like magma and erupted from between clenched teeth. Yang's face snapped into a sadistic grin.

"There we go." Her grip instantly receded and her body popped, her feet planted solidly into the ground and an arm extended downwards to her defeated adversary. Blake rolled her eyes and took hold of the cool, metallic wrist. Yang hoisted her from the sweat-slicked mat with a mere roll of a clammy shoulder. The blonde strolled away with a skip in her step to grab two bottles of water from the edge of the padded training area. She effortlessly tossed one through the air and Blake caught it in shaking hands, her muscles screaming at the weight.

"I can't go any more, Yang." She unscrewed the cap with protesting fingers and lifted the bottle, water cascading into her mouth and over her upturned face. She shook droplets from her face with an abrupt flourish, her thick ponytail whipping at the raw pink skin on her back. "This isn't for me."

"Don't be silly, you're doing so good!" Yang chuckled, her face radiant with pride. "You're already better than Ruby. Pretty soon you'll be unstoppable." Blake's lips couldn't help but curl upwards at the praise. She swiped her forearm lazily across her forehead leaving her bangs tangled and plastered to her scalp in all directions. A smooth swing of her arm launched the bottle back to her partner, caught in a sure grip. She curled her finger in a come-hither motion and flashed a determined stare before planting her feet into the mat in a concrete stance. She lifted clenched fists in front of her face defensively, waiting for the ferocious onslaught. "Let's go again."

* * *

Hand to hand combat, you filthy sinners.


	5. I'm not fragile

Prompt: "I'm not fragile, you don't have to be so gentle."

* * *

Yang's fingers plied at the muscles in Blake's back, locked tight as a bowstring under pale skin. She traced delicate curves with feathery touches and thundered knuckles down her spine. Fingertips caressed the edges of her shoulder blades and the heel of her hand molded the small of her back. It was soft, sweet and wonderful, but it wasn't doing what she needed.

"I'm not fragile, you don't have to be so gentle." Blake said into her pillow, trapped face down on her bunk by strong thighs straddling her hips.

Yang shimmied to the foot of the bed and settled on her knees. "Oh kitten, I have no intention of being gentle with you." Suddenly relentless thumbs pressed roughly into the back of her thigh, and they worked with practiced precision until she found a hard lump buried under the skin. Blake hissed through her teeth as pressure built against the solid knot in her muscle. Yang levered into the spot harder until laboured breaths turned into a pained wail. "You should've told me you like it rough. I like hearing you scream." She snickered.

The breathless laugh on Blake's lips turned into a pleasured moan. Yang's hands drove over and over from her ankle to her hip, rolling the lactic acid from the limb and leaving a pleasant tingle in the wake. Yang hummed and fidgeted on her knees, her hips flexing as the mattress shifted below them. "God, you make the best noises."

"You would know." Blake snarked, and Yang's chuckle in response was heady.

"Hell yeah, I do." Her hands moved to the other leg and repeated the motion, coaxing purrs and whimpers from Blake. "And you're going to be singing them all by the time I'm done with you."


	6. Bend Over

Innuendo prompt: "Bend over."

* * *

"Come on baby, start!" Yang turned the key in the black lock and her thumb clicked down the ignition switch. The starter fired, and fired, and fired, and - nothing. The same nothing that had been the bane of her afternoon. "Shit." She spat the word from her lips.

"Yang, language." Taiyang called from his seat on the porch. His eyes flickered between the three year old playing on the grass with a corgi, and Yang - covered in grease with a slight steam easing the sweat from her back.

"Tā māde!" She bounced back at her father with a grin, but his eyes narrowed dangerously at her. The smile slid from her face and she nodded at him, then flipped the key back off. Her frustration grumbled out of her mouth and she thudded to her knees beside the open panel in the side of the bike. Oil-smeared hands grabbed at a wrench and she disconnected cables and hoses, carefully detaching the parts blocking her view. Her arm brushed lightly against metal and plastic as it moved into the gap, and jagged edges bit at her skin. Her fingertips nudged what she was looking for and as she tried to bring the wrench underneath to tighten the loose bolt, the nut slipped off and bounced on the ground. Nails scrabbled against the dry dirt to grab it and she dusted the metal fixture off on her shorts before she pressed it back into the bike, trying to twist it home with slippery fingers. Her other arm reached carefully around the bike with the wrench in hand, and as it locked onto the bolt the nut shot from between her fingers and rolled carefree through grit and dust before flopping onto its side like a contrary housecat. "God da-" She stopped herself and peeped over Bumblebee, but her father and niece were nowhere to be seen. Instead, she cast her eyes to her shadowy wife, under a nearby tree and curled around a newspaper.

"Blake, I need you to hold something." Blake looked over the top of the broadsheet, her eyes taking in both the irritation and black smudges on Yang's face. She carefully creased the newspaper in half, settled it on the grass and gracefully unfolded herself from her position. She stretched leisurely and sauntered over to the bright yellow motorcycle.

"Where?" She asked, peering into the unintelligible mass of wires and hoses. Yang put the slightly gritty nut into Blake's fingers and pointed inside the cavity she'd made.

"There."

"I can't see it." Yang raised an eyebrow. The position was obvious, her finger pressed right next to the end of the bolt, but Blake was either playing dumb or too upright to see into the gap. Her chest rose and fell and forced a long and weighted breath from deep in her lungs.

"Bend over."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you." Blake's voice lilted playfully, and she turned her head to shoot Yang a smug smile. For once, Yang was unappreciative of the banter and instead tilted her head. Her left arm dropped into her lap while her right and the wrench clanged like bells against the ground, and she fixed Blake with a half-hearted glare.

"Blake, I'm serious."

"That's a first."

Yang sighed and pinched her brow. She'd been trying to fix the starter motor for hours and was tired and filthy. Even Ruby had looked and come up empty. The sun had been beating down on her back and she didn't even know if her body could produce more sweat than had already soaked into her sports bra.

"Please just hold the thing." Her shoulders were slumped in defeat, her face exasperated and she was clearly in the beginnings of a headache. Blake took pity on her frustrated partner.

"Fine," she bent down and slipped her arm into the gap with ease, twisting the nut on and holding it fast, "but you can bend over for me later."


	7. Could you be happy here with me?

Prompt: "Could you be happy here with me?"

* * *

"So what do you think?" Yang shrugged, her arms held wide to prompt a response from Blake. The place was really nice, in a good part of Vale, excellent access to shopping and restaurants, and it was nestled in the roof of an old building. The ceilings slanted downward and wide windows were scattered around them letting plenty of light into what could quite easily be a dingy apartment. It was cosy but not small, and the price was perfect. Yang was in love with the place, but one word from her girlfriend would change that entirely.

"I think it's perfect. Part of me wishes I could take it." Blake looked around again, her eyes following dark wooden ceiling beams and matching door frames. It was warm and comfortable, and it was so easy to imagine it filled with Yang's furniture as well as her presence.

Yang pumped her fist internally, relief shooting through her veins. She likes it! "Do you think there's enough space for my weights and some bookshelves?" She wandered into the master bedroom and stretched her palms out as she tried to imagine her bed lined up against the wall. She wondered if her vanity would look better on the left or right.

"There's plenty of room. Why do you need bookshelves though?" Blake's curiosity was piqued, but her voice maintained its usual calm as she wondered where Yang was going with this.

"Ha! Like I don't read?" Yang snapped around to look at her partner, a teasing smile on her face and dancing in her eyes.

Blake shrugged. "I don't see you read much."

She pressed a smiling kiss to Blake's cheek as she walked past and into the bathroom. A tub and a shower, perfect. Blake didn't like to take baths, the water getting in her ears was uncomfortable at best and she didn't appreciate her fingers and toes pruning. Quick showers were her thing. Yang on the other hand, loved to both luxuriate in hot water amongst sweet smelling bubbles, and climb in a killer ice bath after a particularly brutal hunt. "Well maybe it's so you can leave a bunch of your books here."

"Yang that's so sweet." Blake's heart fluttered up and bumped against the ceiling and her smile almost hurt her cheeks. Yang turned around and faced Blake through the bathroom doorway.

"Could you be happy here with me?" She asked, her eyebrow quirked in question and Blake couldn't figure out if Yang was asking what she thought she was asking.

"What?"

"Like, with me? Here." Yang walked towards her and scooped her hands up to press kisses against her knuckles. "With all of your books?" Blake's heart had fallen from above and landed back in her chest with a thump. The impact left her body quaking.

"Are you being serious?" She asked, still wanting to be sure. She wanted to hear Yang say those words, to make sure that she wasn't just jumping to conclusions and about to make an enormous fool of herself.

Yang nudged her nose against Blake's and dropped her voice lower. "Please move in with me." Blake's ears perked and she snapped forward to briefly brush her lips against Yang's.

"Of course I will."


	8. La Petite Mort

Sorry about the sudden influx of chapters. I forgot to crosspost to here from the other place, so I'm catching up.

Prompt: Soulmates AU. I went with a short on colours from a new angle.

* * *

The colours are brightest before she comes. Rich gold and honey spiral in her eyes, they glitter, and you beg her not to close them. You want to bathe in her gaze over and over, watch the thick smokiness of her hair roll against the pillow as she writhes and moans your name from dusk pink lips. The emerald laced on a silver chain at her throat glistens in the light, and it fills your mind with lush green and the promise of spring against the snow white of her skin. Her cheeks are hot and flushed with the glowing red embers of a hearth and you want to stoke her, feed her and make her burn hotter than ever. The silk of her ears shines with opalescence as they press down into her hair and almost disappear into the sea of darkness, streaks of the darkest cobalt laced between loosely curled strands. Shadows and highlights cross along her torso, cutting sharp lines against toned flesh and you crave the taste of her cream skin in your mouth. Your own hair falls over your shoulders and curtains her in fields of summer sunshine and you feel like your eyes are lying to you, none of this could possibly be real. Her body stiffens, and for the moment her heart stops, your world changes to grayscale. Everything she is enshrined in a statue of alabaster and soapstone as her body is tipped over the edge. That moment holds for eternity and you pray that this is the only way the colours ever leave you, that the sole reason you will ever again see in black and white is when she comes apart beneath your hands. She gasps and every shade floods back as she cries out into the humid air, and you love the little death - it makes you all the more grateful of the hues she brings into your life.


	9. Don't walk away from me

Blake came back to Patch in the dead of night.  
Prompt: Don't walk away from me.

* * *

Blake came back to Patch in the dead of night. She liked it like that, with no way of being seen before she was ready to show herself. It had been intentional to arrive so long before sunrise, it gave her plenty of time to think. She was going to speak to her this time, she had to, there was no other option. Yang needed to know why she left, to know how important it was that she vanished. It was for her own good, Blake was certain of that much. She couldn't leave Yang vulnerable and at the mercy of Adam. It was terrible enough with both of her arms and her semblance fully charged, she couldn't bear to think of the damage he would gleefully inflict upon her now. She could imagine every moment. How he would beat her down with the hilt of his sword, how he would tear into her flesh with thousands of tiny slits and laugh as her life seeped away. He would enjoy it, that would be the worst part, he'd consider it a victory for himself and for the White Fang - another Huntress who would further the human agenda, dead. Blake shivered and curled her knees to her chest to hug them tight, the only reassuring contact that her body had experienced since she had last seen her partner. She watched the world brighten around her and wished that her plan of action would come into focus like the trees around the cabin.

Her ears perked at the sounds of life within the house but she still waited, silent and pressed against the wood beneath Yang's bedroom window. There was still the chance to leave, but that would just make everything worse. It wasn't that she didn't want to see Yang, the opposite in fact, she craved the touch and presence of her partner, to feel the warm glow that always radiated from her no matter her mood. She wanted to see her soft, rounded face; smell the ever pervasive scent of coconut and ozone, and hold a scarred hand in her own. In the back of her mind, she knew it wouldn't be that simple. Yang certainly deserved the opportunity to unleash her anger, to yell and scream and punch and beat her into the ground if she needed to, and Blake would welcome every strike. None of that made her any less afraid.

A quick breath shot from her lips and before she could stop herself she slid away from the window, back flush to the panelling. and walked around the side of the cabin. She stood and stared at the door for a beat. Two. Three. She knocked hard on the front door. Her hands shook and she could feel her heartbeat in her toes, but she stood fast. Quick steps on a wooden floor snapped closer and the door swung open to bring her face to face with an older man who was the spitting image of Yang. Ruby wasn't exaggerating when she said that Yang was exactly like their father, but standing toe to toe with the man was enough to pull the breath from her. His face sunk into a frown as he looked at her and she blushed. No words were left in her brain, never mind her mouth. His feet shuffled against the floorboards as he moved his whole body to the side.

"She's in there." He points to a door further in the cabin, but she already knew where the bedroom was, she'd come to stare at the outside of the cabin often enough to at least figure that out. Blake's nod was razor sharp and her walk tentative. The knot in her stomach pulled tighter the closer she got to the door, and it was ready to tear her in two as she knocked softly on the bedroom door before pushing it open.

"Yang?" Her name bubbled from Blake's mangled body and a mane of honeyed hair flipped over a shoulder as she stepped around the door. Violet eyes were sunken, tired and dying embers in the ash, but they still flashed red hot.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice bit around Blake's heart and any resolve she had crumbled to dust.

"I'm coming back. I'm back." None of her usual eloquence was behind the words, and frustration rippled through her. It was going so much worse than she had hoped.

"You shouldn't be back, Blake. You left for a reason, right?" Yang's words rang with disgust and punched her hard.

"I did, I had to. It was to keep you safe."

"Bullshit."

"Adam said he was going to destroy you, I needed to get away, to not give him a reason to come after you."

"I can't listen to this garbage." Yang threw the covers aside roughly with her left hand and pushed herself off the bed. Her feet struggled to keep her balance but she was rigid enough to storm past her way past Blake and bump her with her shoulder on her way out of the room. Blake's breaths pulled harder and faster and her mind raced. Everything was so wrong and she felt blackness pull at the edges of her vision as she started to hyperventilate.

"Don't walk away from me!" She shouted at Yang's back, and she knew immediately that anything she could have said would have been better than those five words.

Yang spun on her heel and stared.

"You don't get to say that!" The words leave her voice with a force that she had never witnessed before. "You don't get to tell me not to leave, especially when you can't take your own advice." Tears of fury collected at the corners of her eyes and Yang had never looked so terrifying. "You have no right." Yang's foot stomped into the floor and for a moment Blake wondered where Taiyang had gone and if he decided to let Yang murder her there and then.

"Please, Yang! I'm so sorry, I didn't want to leave you like that."

"But you did." All the fight flew from her body as quickly as it had arrived and Blake crumpled at the rawness threaded through her words..

"I just wanted you to be safe." Blake's bottom lip wavered, but she steadied herself. Her hands grasped and pulled at her ribbons, her anxiety bare for Yang to see in the movements of quick fingers against black silk.

"I will always be safer with you by my side." Yang was angry- furious. She was a volcano and Blake wanted nothing more than to stop hurting this girl who had only ever brought love and joy to her life- who had only ever been abandoned by those who were supposed to love her. Blake stopped tugging and folded her hands together before looking up at Yang's face, and she realised she had no idea how to stop the pain fluttering over those perfect features.

"If you want me to go I'll understand."

Yang surged forward with defiant steps, each one heavy and sturdy against the floor. She didn't stop as she reached Blake and pulled her into a crushing hug, wrapping her arm around Blake's neck and pinning her close against her body. "Don't you dare leave me again."

Blake's body relaxed and her arms slid around Yang's waist, tugging the blonde closer until their bodies were pressing tightly at every possible point. Their chests, hips and thighs crushed together and she could feel the negative energy start to lazily drip out of Yang's body. She pressed her lips to a warm cheek and squeezed harder.

"Never."


	10. My Secret Collection

A quick ficlet from a quick prompt to get things going again.

* * *

I have a collection of all the things Yang has ever given me. It started out as doodles and notes passed in class. I kept them after, shoved the paper into my pocket and hid them away for safekeeping. Then she bought me some tea, so I kept one of the little paper packets that a teabag came in and pressed it in between the cover and first page of my notebook until I could put it with the rest. She took me to the movies, I saved the ticket and the receipt for the sodas she bought in a small pocket in my purse. I got more notes after that, signed with hearts and kitty faces in her lazy handwriting. Some of them have kisses pressed to them, and I marked the ones that do so I don't forget. Then she started giving me things that I couldn't keep in my collection. The first time she kissed my cheek, God I wish I could keep that. I burned up so hot I thought her semblance had rubbed off on me. The first time she kissed my lips I kissed her right back. Then I wrote it all down, every single thing I could remember about it; how soft her lips were, the smell of her perfume against her skin, how her arms held me tight and made me feel so safe. I tore the page out of my journal and put it with the rest. The necklace she gave me for my birthday, a shining emerald set in silver that she said reminded her of spring and sitting on the grass watching the clouds. When I'm not wearing it, it stays with the rest. Birthday cards, letters, and love notes. I took a photograph of the engagement ring. That is always staying on my finger, the gold reminds me of her hair. Yang gave me so much, and I treasure every single thing, because her love is so precious that I never ever want to lose it. So I collect it.


	11. This is cliché

Prompt: "This is very cliché."

* * *

Blake and Yang walked together through the streets of Vale. Yang's heavy brown boots scuffed lazily against the sidewalk in a soft rhythm and their arms brushed at their sides. Butterflies flew in circles in their bellies; neither of them were quite brave enough to hold the other's hand, but they didn't want to walk any further away from each other.

"So where are we going?" Blake asked, a rosy blush dusting her cheeks as Yang turned to face her.

"Sorry, not gonna spoil it!" Yang replied, her feet skipping with excitement as they rounded a corner. She lifted a hand and pressed it into the small of Blake's back, guiding her into a narrow alley and then through a dark wooden door. The scent of roasting coffee flooded Blake's nose and she turned to Yang as the blonde followed her into the tiny store.

"A coffee date? This is very cliché." She said, surprised at Yang's choice.

"Well, look." She turned Blake around by the shoulders and eyes widened to properly take in what was all around her. The room was filled with shelves stacked deep with old books; hardbacks, leather bound, and old dusty paperbacks. A few tables were dotted between the shelves and the small counter, where one barista worked pulling levers and cleaning hoses on a copper espresso machine. "So it's a coffee shop, but it's also a bookstore, and according to my sources it has the best selection of tea on the continent."

Blake's mouth dropped open and her eyes wandered around the room; she was enamoured. The place was beautiful, paintings were hung on the wall framed in swirls of brass and dark wood. The shelves sat thick and heavy around the room, smaller ones backed up against each other in between irregularly shaped tables, with each table surrounded by comfortable looking chairs mismatched in pattern and fabric.

"Oh my gosh."

"So, good?" A flutter of nerves made themselves apparent in the back of Yang's throat, but she did her best to hide them.

"Yang, I love it." A content smile spread across Blake's face and she turned to look at Yang. A matching beam cropped up across Yang's lips and she huffed out a small breath of relief.

"Why don't you find somewhere to sit down, and I'll get us some drinks?" Yang asked and Blake nodded, turning back to look around the packed room. She walked towards the corner of the room, drawing her fingers along shelves as she moved, desperate to gather up as many books as she could possibly carry and take them home. Yang just smiled at Blake's obvious longing and moved over to the counter to get their drinks.

When Yang walked back to the table with drinks in hand, Blake was nose-deep in a book that she'd picked up in passing. As the the cups clinked onto the table, amber eyes shot up and locked onto the sweetest smile she had ever seen. Blake snapped the book closed and put it down, blushing as she looked at the surface of the table.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "it was interesting."

"Hey, no need to say sorry. I'll buy it for you if you like?" Yang picked up the book and her eye grazed over the title,

"You don't have to do that, I can-"

"I want to, Blake." Yang smiled sweetly and placed the book back onto the mahogany table before sitting down in one of the empty chairs. "I asked the barista what I should get you, she said this was good."

Blake blinked as Yang pushed the teacup towards her, and she took it up in her hands, sniffing carefully before sipping at the contents. "This is delicious, what is it?"

"Salted caramel green tea." Yang looked back over her shoulder and threw a thumbs up to the barista, who smiled and threw one back. Blake watched, confusion written on her features. "She said that if you liked it, you were a keeper. Impeccable taste and all."

"Well maybe I should get her to take me out on a date instead?"

Yang's face fell slightly and she took a sip of her coffee.

"Maybe, but I have a feeling that we were meant to _bean_ , Blake." She grinned and took another sip. "And I mean, I chose this place _espresso-ly_ for you."

Blake shook her head and smiled.

"You're such a nerd."

"Yeah, but you love me." Yang winked and shot a finger-gun at her partner, chuckling into her latte.

"I…" Blake paused and looked straight into Yang's eyes. "I definitely could."

Now it was the blonde's turn to blush, and she crept her free hand across the table to link her fingers with Blake's.

Their cups drained, Yang looked between Blake and the book sat discarded on the table. She took the book in her hand and pushed her chair out a little. "I'd ask if you want another cup of tea, but I think it'd be a case of _déjà brew_ , so I'm just gonna pay for this and then we can go?"

Blake laughed and in a split second decision she leaned forward over the table and pressed a soft kiss to Yang's lips. Yang's eyes fluttered closed and for the first time that afternoon her smile was subtle and gentle. Her eyelids peeled themselves open slowly as she realised Blake's lips weren't on hers any more, and she watched Blake's bow twitch almost imperceptibly. "I definitely could, too."


	12. I think I'm in love with you

I'm so sorry this took so long. I was in a bit of a prompt slump, and working really hard to get some things together for The Sharp Horns of Dilemmas, so I hope this is adequate and somewhat pleasing.

Tumblr prompt : "I think I'm in love with you and that scares the hell out of me"

* * *

Yang was quiet. Blake was known to revel in the peace and quiet afforded to her in brief moments, but Yang being quiet made her nervous; it was a flashing neon sign over that thicket of blonde curls that clearly spelled out _Something is Wrong with Yang Xiao Long_. Blake tilted her head to look at Yang, perched on the windowsill with her knees tucked under her chin to compress her body into the most compact shape she could. She was small _and_ she was quiet, and Blake was officially worried.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked, placing her hand against Yang's thigh, cool from the crisp evening breeze whipping through the open window. Amber eyes flashed in the dusk and Yang couldn't help but look down at the small wrinkle between Blake's eyebrows. Yang took a deep breath and her lips parted, but whatever words sat just beyond her teeth retreated back down her throat and her eyes snapped back to staring out of the window.

"You can talk to me, you know." Blake pressed a gentle kiss against the side of Yang's knee, then another to the girl's cheek. She leaned forward, resting her forearms against the windowsill, and waited. A gust of a breeze blew past Yang and ruffled the curls wrapped around her shoulders, but she didn't move an inch in the bluster; she simply stared straight ahead, her pupils dancing around the sky trying desperately to find something to latch onto, something that would give her all of the answers.

"Blake, you know I care about you a lot, right?" Yang mumbled into her knees, and Blake nodded gently beside her.

"Of course. I care about you, too." She replied, nudging the blonde's leg with her shoulder. "So what is this about?"

Yang carefully unfolded herself, stretching her legs and letting them hang out of the window. She straightened her spine from its hunched curve and rolled her shoulders to shrug the blanket of tension from her muscles. She took a moment, her eyes flickering down to her legs and then back up to the darkening sky, hues of yellow and orange bathing her in a luminous golden glow that somehow made her look more otherworldly than usual. A deep breath expanded her lungs, and she held it for a second before letting the words bound from her lips.

"I think I'm in love with you, and that scares the hell out of me." Yang didn't look down at the woman beside her, she just let her gaze pour outwards into the rapidly darkening sky as she waited for Blake to say something. To say anything, really. Blake simply drummed her fingertips against the windowsill. Yang swallowed, she couldn't stand the resounding thump of her own heavy heartbeat against her ribcage, hideously out of time with the soft tapping of Blake's fingers, and needed to cover it with something. She coughed. She sniffed. "It's just, every woman in my life that I've loved has left me. The people I love always leave me." She turned to look at the top of Blake's head, her eyes roving over velveteen ears that were crooked ever so slightly towards her. "You left me."

"I came back." Blake's voice was small and twisted, and Yang hated herself.

"But what if you leave again?"

"I won't."

"How can you be so sure?" Yang turned her body, opened herself a little and Blake looked up, her wide open eyes staring at Yang with solid gold conviction.

"Because I love you, and I can't do this without you." Blake stood up straight and pushed herself onto her tiptoes to press a feather light kiss to Yang's cheek. "I'm not her. I'm not any of them," light and delicate fingers tucked wild sunshine curls behind Yang's ear in the evening darkness, "I'm your partner, and I'm not running."


	13. Reunited

Gazes snapped together in a flash, and Blake's heart stopped entirely. Her legs began to tremble, the foundations crumbling beneath her and all she could do was stare. The two of them were locked. Yang's eyelid twitched imperceptibly as a small huff shot out between parted lips. Blake's grip on the hilt of her weapon loosened slightly as the blade lowered. Her stomach churned. She could feel burning heat creeping up her gullet, and as she opened her mouth what poured forth wasn't what she was expecting, instead just one word- "Yang?"

Yang breathed in. She turned.

And she ran.


End file.
